Postcards from Tomorrow Square

James Fallows understands that there are countless Chinas. His first visit was in the mid-1980s when he lived in Malaysia and Japan with his wife and two elementary-school-aged children. He returned, from 2006 to 2008, with his wife in order to live in Shanghai and Beijing and travel throughout China with the goal of reporting on and gaining a better understanding of China to report it to the Western world. He did so and his book, "Postcards from Tomorrow Square", is comprised of several articles he wrote for The Atlantic during this time period. Fallows is refreshingly aware that one's interpretations of this vast and elusive country are always changing based on the location and time period that one visits in. He makes it clear in the book that he is attempting to spread light on China's unbelievably fast ability to adapt to the global trade market, and in the process he further enlightens the reader on what Chinese entrepreneurs offer the world, the vast difference between the poor rural workers (especially of the West) and the booming industrial cities in Eastern cities such as Shenzhen, the governments apparent total control versus the lack of social order apparent to him through his travels, as well as warning America that the worst decision it could make in regards to China would be to cut off all ties with China and fight against its ideologies.

In the opening chapter Fallows offers "Four Cautions and Two Mysteries" which illustrates what surprised him most in the beginning of his time in China as well as what he is most curious about. Each offers insight into Chinese culture and a gateway into discussing further details from Fallows' reporting.

First, Fallows cautions: "Watch out, Japanese people!" He addresses the outstanding hatred that the youth of China harbor for the Japanese, pointing out that he can't put his finger on the breadth of hostility within the youth. What I found interesting here was the history less often discussed and hated that Fallows points out: "The Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1976, when the parent's of today's college students were sent into the countryside and often forced to denounce their own parents."(11) Why do the youth of China harbor such hatred for the Japanese while Chairman Mao is still culturally accepted as a leader to look up to (and whose picture is still on every denomination of paper money)?!

Caution two is a warning for the upcoming Olympians. Here Fallows points out a great positive versus a grand negative for present China. On the one hand, China is undergoing a massive economic boom owed to a government focus on industrialization, a massive cheap labor force, and an era of political stability that has allowed the communist government to attempt to implement a never-before-seen economic philosophy of "communo-capitalism". This makes for a phenomenal sight through a globalized glamourous infrastructure; however, on the other hand, China faces what Fallows describes as the world's worst air pollution. This is important to note, as the question arises among Chinese ideology of whether increased industrial growth for the sake of economic prosperity outweighs the environmental duty of protecting their air quality.

In reference to a "duty" that the Chinese people and their culture face, one may mention Mr. Zhang, an entrepreneur who Fallows describes as having all of the typical characteristics of a Chinese businessmen, and the "Win in China!" television show that goes beyond its American counterpart "The Apprentice", and what they offer the world. They also offer primary insight into Chinese culture.

Zhang Yue is a Chinese business tycoon who founded Broad Air Conditioning who built his dream town, aptly named "Broad Town", to house his main research and industrial center for his company and its workers. Two distinctive cultural references can be made from Fallow's interaction with Zhang. First, as Fallows states, "China, is too big, complicated, and contradictory to have any typical or representative character." (38) Zhang represents a minimal class of people, tens of millions out of well over a billion, that are able to think of more than just getting by. He speaks fast leaving little opening for interruption, looks to aviation and private jets as a future for China, and is very hard working and focused on building a company for the future not the present. Zhang represents the equivalent of the American entrepreneur according to Fallows, but this culture is vastly different when compared to the countless ethnic minorities within China and the overwhelming economic depravity that the West faces. (216) Zhang's dream town also offers insight into Chinese cultural background. The town, as with countless other factory towns and industrial cities throughout China, is highly uniform. The workers live on the compound all but one week a year; often work until midnight; have two days off per month; and survive by shoveling food down during their two hour break and then sleeping. Fallows claims this represents the contrast between China and Japan: less individual latitude, more collective success. Furthermore, most of the workers in factories tend to return home after working for 2-3 years. Once they've saved enough money they return home to help out their rural farming families, using money to sustain relatives and pay for children's education. Industrial and urban culture is clearly defined by speed, uniformity over individualism, and production. This, as Fallows notes but cannot contribute to, will be one of China's greatest challenges to address in the coming future. As China's money dreams are realized, how will the poor rural masses and their culture influence and be influenced by the industrial urban centers so many flock to work in?

Win in China offers further insight into Chinese culture through the values the show's producer, Wang Lifen, attempts to teach the show's audience as well as contestants. "The purpose of The Apprentice was very functional," Wang Lifen explained to Fallows. "There's some job that already exists, and Donald Trump is just looking for somebody to fill it, while providing entertainment. We want to teach values. Our dream for the show is to enlighten Chinese people and help them realize their own dreams." (54) By bringing in entrepreneurial experts, the show teaches its contestants lessons on business start-up, management and marketing. While the contestant learn the values necessary for a successful business, the audience learns of numerous Chinese micro-cultures from the manner in which the contestants compose themselves in interviews. Mr. Wang, a "minister-level" official in the Chinese government, reportedly called Wang Lifen to secure another two seasons of Win in China. "There is no religion in China, so it is very important to promote the right kind of values...Today for our society, the entrepreneur can be our hero." (64)

China Makes, The World Takes is perhaps Fallow's most important, certainly most recognized, article and chapter within "Postcards". The chapter's contents entail what Fallows addresses in his third and fourth cautionary statements at the beginning of the book: "Watch Out, America!" and "Watch Out, Everyone Else!". (14-25)  In his "caution" section Fallows warns America about its growing strictness in regards to accepting migrants from China. The answer to China and America's domestic educational worries can be answered through a greater osmosis process in visas issued to Chinese applicants. Chinese students, because they are culturally brought up to view education as a gift and a ticket to a better life for both them and their family, would "create more jobs, opportunities, and friends for America" while furthering China's growing base of educated entrepreneurs.

Furthermore, Fallows points out that the American stereotypes about Chinese social structure are skewed. In the "land of contrasts", as cliche as it sounds, Fallows argues it is difficult to make sense of the combination of rigid control and the near-complete chaos the newcomer sees in China. (18) One reason why Americans typically find China less "foreign" than Japan is that in Japan the social controls are internalized, through years of training in one's proper role in a group. "Control" in China, on the other hand, is not socially internalized from the ground up, rather they are embedded within class structure and the countless micro-cultures. According to Fallows, in China, "[controls] appear to be bolted on", ready to fall off at any moment.

There are several important pieces of information to be taken from "China Makes, The World Takes", the most important of which is Fallows' description of his experience at the Sheraton Four Points hotel in Shenzhen. This thorough portrayal depicts the daily economic life in a once small town (did not even exist on a map as recent as Ronald Reagan's presidency) turned large scale industrial city filled with factories and migrant workers from across China. This section is important in order to understand the social structure present in many urban areas of industrial China today that the cultures of the numerous Chinese people clash and mold with.

However, the most important thing to take away from the chapter is Fallows' warning to America and its ideology in regards to China. American complains about the RMB, about subsidies for Chinese goods and companies, and about other Chinese practices have this in common: they all assume that the solution to long-term tensions in the trading relationship lies in changes on China's side. Fallows finds that assumption naive. The trends that are being shaped in America following globalization (inequality, a sense of entitlement for some, stifled opportunity for others), and the American choices behind them, are what Americans need to address. (In essence, it is a class of dreams.) "They're not China's problem, and they're not the fault of anyone in Shenzhen." American ideology must be addressed, and the greatest way to address it is through continued and further exchange, both economically and culturally, with China.